Blue back to suicidal ways

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/10/2009 (5834 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Boy, the B.C. Lions sure know how to hurt a guy.

First they insult you with a one-crotch salute; some antiquated, ancient wrestling antic they pulled the last time the two rivals met in Vancouver. Then when you call them on it, they accuse you of being a whining crybaby.

If that isn’t bad enough, they come to your house — with their third-string quarterback, no less — and do to your playoff aspirations what Lions defensive end Stephen Williams did during Sunday’s rematch to veteran Bombers offensive lineman Obby Khan — a punch to the nether regions that left the latter curled up in a ball on the stadium turf.

That’s not the Welcome Wagon, is it?

But that’s exactly what the Lions did, in the process pile-driving the Bombers’ tenuous post-season aspirations into the mat. One, two…

OK, it looked as though the Bombers were going to have more lives that a Buddhist cat. They were getting good at their high-wire act, three straight wins to resurrect a season that just a month ago appeared doomed.

What happens? The Bombers fly out of the gate Sunday, building a 14-0 cushion before you could chant “Lions suck!, Lions suck!” Then, boom, B.C.’s tender starting quarterback, Buck Pierce, gets hammered on a scramble, fumbles the ball, and leaves the game in a sling. The Bombers must have been pinching themselves.

So it’s as good as over, right?

Because surely a red-hot Winnipeg squad, playing in front of almost 24,000 faithful — the attendance bolstered by recent victories — would send these toothless Lions home, thus pouring more cement to set on their late playoff push.

Beautiful. And, my, what a lovely, brilliant fall afternoon.

Then, suddenly, it was summer all over again — and not in a good way.

We’re not exactly sure why it happened. Or how it happened. But Winnipeg quarterback Michael Bishop, so instrumental in the Bombers resurgence, picked a bad time to revert to the struggling form that so characterized the offence’s woes much of the season.

Bishop’s sights were off the entire game. Some balls were just out of reach. Some couldn’t be caught with a net. And some balls were just horrendous decisions in the first place — and that includes all three interceptions Bishop coughed up Sunday. Bishop’s final line: 13-of-32 for 226 yards. But after starting the game with a 52-yard heave to Adarius Bowman — followed by a 10-yard TD pop to Brock Ralph — the Bombers starter became unglued.

Call it deja pee-yew.

Listen, nobody claimed the Bombers were going to run out the string. For those folks, the Grey Cup parade was starting at the corner of Wishful Thinking Avenue and Rose-coloured Glasses Boulevard.

But there was evidence of progress, regardless of the combined losing records of the Argos, Tiger-Cats and Eskimos teams the Bombers had rolled over in recent weeks. Skepticism or optimism, the Bombers held their destiny in their own gnarled paws. Until now.

Because that’s what fundamentally changed in Bomberville. The home team is officially at the mercy of their rivals. They now trail both the Lions and Eskimos, both 7-8, in the crossover race for the last spot in the East. The Bombers still might be tied with the Tiger-Cats (6-9), but that’s like being even with the fellow falling beside you whose parachute also didn’t open.

And it only gets worse. Up next: Back-to-back dates with the Alouettes, now 13-2. Eeep.

Look, the Bombers aren’t dead yet. Besides, we’ve been premature about their unfortunate demise for about two months now, so let’s respect the process.

But as night fell at Canad Inns Stadium, you got the distinct impression the sun was literally setting on the Bombers’ playoff hopes.

How ironic, though, that the same root causes for Sunday’s critical loss would reappear like unwanted in-laws just as quickly as they had taken leave a few weeks back. In crunch time, the Bombers offence reverted to its old, suicidal ways.

Worse, they did it against the B.C. Lions, the team that showed them no respect, only to add injury to insult.

We’re guessing the Lions laughed all the way home, secure in the knowledge that they aren’t finished yet — that they may still rob the Bombers of their last playoff hopes.

Who would have thought? The Bombers’ destiny is now in the hands of the Lions, of all teams.

That’s not the worst part. After all, we all know where those hands have been.

randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca

Randy Turner
Reporter

Randy Turner spent much of his journalistic career on the road. A lot of roads. Dirt roads, snow-packed roads, U.S. interstates and foreign highways. In other words, he got a lot of kilometres on the odometer, if you know what we mean.

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